Evaluation Question 1

IN W

HAT W

AYS D

OES YO

UR MED

IA

PRODUCT

USE, D

EVEL

OP OR

CHALLEN

GE FO

RMS AND

CONVENTI

ONS OF

REAL-

LIFE

MEDIA

PRODUCTS

?

L YD

I A G

RE

EN

WO

OD

Evaluation: Question 1

SECTION A: HOW DID YOUR HORROR TRAILER FIT THE HORROR GENRE?

Thomas Schatz (Hollywood Genres, 1981) explains the importance of genre in films as it gives audiences clear expectations of what appeals to them in specific genres. Our trailer fits the horror genre as it contains gore effects and contains quick montage which is meant to scare the audience which is typical in a psychological horror film. We made sure that certain horror conventions were included so that audiences know straight away which genre our trailer is. The title of our trailer immediately establishes our narrative contains the theme of possession is some sense as ‘the evil within’ describes something unnatural being inside someone.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMm8WpTTzHY

Link to Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark (2010)

Trailer

To match specific horror conventions we duplicated ideas from certain horror films such as Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark (2010) and The Hunger Games (2012). From Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark we were able to gather ideas for the jump scares and gore effects. The jump scare at the end of our trailer is similar to the fast moving creatures shown in the film as they both have sharp teeth and are dramatic in effect. We also replicated the idea of the evil creature underneath the bedroom sheets. This relates to how children hide under the sheets to feel safe, so it rips away our childhood security.






The final girl is the main character which is what happens in our trailer; however we changed the idea by having her supposedly commit suicide at the end through her possession. The use of low key lighting is significant throughout the film as the creatures only come out at night. We used low key lighting to create a greater effect as people are naturally more scared when we can’t see what is in front of us. We used a variety of locations but the main sequence in the film is in the eaves where it is an enclosed location. This creates a sense of claustrophobia which makes it hard to escape from the creature inside it with you. This is seen in Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark when Sally is locked in the bathroom and is stuck in the bath as the creatures attack her.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4S9a5V9ODuY&spfreload=10

Link to The Hunger Games (2012) Trailer

The Hunger Games (2012) contextually has a feminist approach which we tried to incorporate into our trailer by having a main female character, where the audience can’t tell whether she is good or bad throughout, as she has conflicting agendas. Our main character is being controlled by someone else (her dead twin) as a possession such as Katniss being controlled by the Capital, making both characters sympathetic to the audience. The violence in the film predominately happens off-screen. The use of restricted narration means that The Hunger Games gained a 12 certificate, which broadened its appeal to a more mainstream audience. This is partly what we tried to achieve in ours however it is more aimed at a psychological audience but could appeal to a mainstream audience as well.






SECTION B: HOW DOES YOUR TRAILER FIT THE CONVENTIONS OF HORROR TRAILERS?

Link to The Evil Within Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwFB57hUVyY

The main thing to focus on when making a horror trailer is making sure that there is a good contrast of slow montage to quick montage. Initially, we struggled with this in The Evil Within as our initial slow shots made the beginning too boring. We improved this however by adding in a couple of extra shots such as the dead twin lying on the floor in a pool of blood and the dad on the phone with blood covered hands. These helped to establish the plot of the film to make it more interesting and by starting with some gore effects it keeps the audience on edge throughout. We also made sure that the music throughout built tension, developing a contrast with our final quick montage. Here, the music changed to match the tempo of the shots which built towards the final jump scare. The lighting throughout our trailer is mostly low key which adds eeriness to the trailer as a whole and this conforms to horror conventions as people are – as the film title of one of our main influences says - “afraid of the dark.”





SECTION B: HOW DID YOU USE INTER-TITLES, PACING, MUSIC, EDITING TO CREATE SUSPENSE AND SHOCK?

In our trailer we used intertitles to create suspense throughout by making sure that they explained the basics of the plot without revealing too much. One of the intertitles we used says “When twins are connected” which doesn’t give away too much of the narrative but makes it clear that the trailer is structured around identical twins so that the audience doesn’t get too confused. The inter-titles also link the sections of clips together which builds up the suspense to the final jump scare at the end. The editing and music partners with the pacing as by editing the shots in a certain order allowed the shock factor at the end and halfway through. The jump scare used in the middle of the trailer is when the close-up of the demon’s face is shown after the lights have flickered out. This creates tension for the rest of the trailer. The jump scare at the end is when the demon’s face is shown again in full when the book is lowered, creating a tense and shocking ending.

SECTION B: HOW DID YOU USE INTER-TITLES, PACING, MUSIC, EDITING TO CREATE SUSPENSE AND SHOCK?

Given that we were creating a PG trailer for a psychological horror, we had to avoid using lots of body horror and rely on clever montage effects to attract our target audience to The Evil Within. The use of music (which was intentionally slowed down slightly from a copyright-free source) helped build tension throughout as it is quite an eerie soundtrack. Our use of sound effects such as the door slamming shut and the lights flickering, added as an overlay, makes certain parts throughout unexpected which would scare the audience and keep them on edge.

SECTION B: WHAT TRAILERS DID YOU SEE AND WANT TO RECREATE THE STYLE OF?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clEXNgH6Oj8

Link to Evil Dead (2013) Trailer

The Evil Dead (2013) trailer contains a style of montage that includes the main character speaking in a scared whisper stating that something wants to kill the men looking after her. Different camera positions are used each time the girl is shown, gradually getting closer to her face to make it more dramatic. I replicated both of these elements in the trailer cutting between a long shot of the girl whispering to the father “she’s still here,” to a close–up of them when she says “with us”.







Link to The Conjuring (2013)

Trailer

The Conjuring (2013) trailer includes a scene where the main woman is looking in a mirror in-front of a girl, looking over her shoulder in a panic but when she looks back at the mirror and lowers it a possessed face is seen close-up to the camera. This exact sequence is what I have used as the end sequence to the trailer as it includes a jump scare to impress the audience. The only difference to my trailer compared to the original is the fact that I have used a magazine to cover the camera instead of using a mirror.








Link to Orphan (2009) Trailer

Another trailer I looked at for inspiration was Orphan (2009). This is because it uses a young girl as the main villain in the film which matches the synopsis of my trailer, with the twist that the father is the one that started the events in motion. The use of children or teenagers as the villain and the victim creates a more sympathetic reaction from the audience while making the film scarier as we don’t imagine children doing these sort of things.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-L0eOjvSM4





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lReemWmO5o

Link to The Woman In Black

(2012) Trailer

The Woman In Black (2012) trailer matches the genre of horror that I decided to create which makes this a perfect trailer to recreate an aspect from. A moment I directly recreated was when the man in standing in the window and the hand print appears building up the tension for the “Woman in Black” to slowly appear behind him. To adapt this I used a low angle shot to show the possessed figure, with her hand on the window, shot from outside. As with all of my recreations, this shot creates a generic but powerful horror feel.

Trailer scene

Close-up





SECTION C: WHAT AUTEUR INFLUENCE DID YOU BRING TO YOUR TRAILER?

The horror aspect that interests me the most is psychological horror and the auteur that influenced me the most is Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock creates suspense really well in his films through the use of montage. This is what Andrew Sarris suggests in his “Auteur Theory” as he reviews the ‘style’ director’s use throughout their films which makes them an auteur. Hitchcock’s use of montage is one of the reasons that make him an auteur and this style is what I tried to recreate in my trailer by using quick montage to increase the pace towards the end of our trailer for The Evil Within.

SECTION C: WHAT AUTEUR INFLUENCE DID YOU BRING TO YOUR TRAILER?

Our use of editing creates a unique factor to the trailer as the effects on the jump scares are edited, instead of filmed using make-up, which makes the scene more effective and heightens the scare factor. The music isn’t the traditional horror music used in other trailers as it has more of a fairy-tale quality to it but is still eerie enough to create suspense. The shots are also made to a good quality which is similar to Hitchcock’s style as all the shots are positioned at the correct angle to maximise its effect, such as when the main character is in the eaves and the lights flicker on and off. The shots are positioned so that every one of her reactions are different when the light turns back on. This creates suspense for the jump scare straight after it. To reflect its institutional context and real life context our trailer includes a strong female character who is the main focus in the trailer.

Evaluation Question 1

Education

Transcript of Evaluation Question 1